Ali will run FIFA with dignity, transparency: Maradona

Dubai, Feb 15 (IANS) Argentine football legend Diego Maradona on Monday said he believes Jordanian Prince Ali would run world football governing body FIFA “with dignity and transparency” as he lent his support to the presidential candidate.

“We want football to be clean, fun and entertaining. The scandals and bribes that happened in FIFA have ruined the image of football and took the heart of it,” Maradona was quoted as saying by sport 360.com.

“Our aim is to retain that passion and make people fall in love with football again. Numerous footballing figures have nominated me to run for the FIFA presidency but I refused because I know Prince Ali would be a much better candidate and I am sure he will manage this federation with dignity and transparency,” he added.

The 1986 World Cup winner said they would look to take the positives from the previous governance in order to improve the image of the world governing body.

“We will not do an extreme makeover to FIFA as there are some positives that we can take from the previous governance, but we aim to change what is negative in the association and help in improving its image.”